EXCLUSIVE: TMKOC’s operational head Sohail Ramani OPENS UP on mental harassment allegations from Jennifer Mistry

In the last few days, we have been reading about the storm brewing on the sets of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chasmah. In fact, what looked like a healthy and prospering Gokulhdham society to many of us actually had many internal issues that one of the ex-actor Jennifer Mistry Bansiwal spoke about. She accused producer Asit Kumarr Modi of sexual harassment and operational head Sohail Ramani of mental harassment. Sadly, the Jennifer Mistry-Asit Modi controversy has only been getting uglier.

While Jennifer has been speaking out loud about all the issues she faced on the show, I recently spoke to Sohail Ramani about the accusations. In our conversation, Sohail shared his thoughts on the Jennifer Mistry-Asit Modi controversy. But before we get on to that, let us look at what the entire fiasco is all about.

Source: Jennifer Mistry Bansiwal Instagram

So, what is the Jennifer Mistry-Asit Modi controversy?

A few days back, Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chasmah actress Jennifer Mistry who played the role of Roshan Sodhi on the show slammed producer Asit Kumar Modi with a legal notice. She accused Asit of making sexual advances at her during her tenure on the show. Jennifer even slammed operational head Sohail Ramani for mentally harassing her by delaying her payments and not talking properly with her. While a few of her co-stars have also spoken up about being ill-treated on the TMKOC sets, some have even spoken in favour of Asit.

Here’s what Sohail Ramani commented on his equation with Jennifer…

In an exclusive conversation, Sohail shared,

Jennifer was one of my best friends, she would share all her joys and sorrows. If I was an enemy why was she confiding in me, even I would share things with her. She would do tarot reading, she would come and tell me the importance of it, and we used to chat for hours, if I was so bad, why she would chat with me? It is all a one-sided conversation, nobody is listening to the other side of the story. If we speak up and share things about her, she will put some new allegations against us which would be baseless. You are highlighting 10 per cent of the negative things only, making them one-sided and fabricated, what about the 90 per cent of good things that happened, why are you not saying those?”

Sohail further went on to share…

She is accusing me of mental harassment from her point of view. As a production we have been working since 15 years, and small fights do happen. If we ask someone to be disciplined or have small disputes, and she thinks that to be mental harassment, then there is nothing we can do. As a producer, making 100 people work together for 15 years is a stressful job. The producer will not go and say what artists creates what problems where. He has to work and make others work with love and harmony. If an employee is not working properly isn’t it the boss’s duty to shout at them? If you tag that as mental harassment, it is a very one-sided approach.”

Sohail even reacted to why Jennifer kept it all in for so many years, he added…

We are also shocked that all this is coming after 15 years. Whenever Jennifer had an issue she would come to me. We would give her as many solutions as we could. Sometimes the situation was also not in our hands. Putting a mental harassment card on it, is not done. The reason why we were not talking was this only, we say something then she will react, so what do we say on this? We are observing that this is a campaign going on to malign the show. All those who have left the show, may be have not been getting enough work, so to come in the limelight they are putting out such things.”

Reacting to the ‘production sabse bada hota hai’ comment, Sohail shared…

I said production is always helpful, because we have to find a solution to an artist’s problem. So production has an upper hand, if you misinterpret that then what can I say? We have to be equipped to provide everything, we have to look into 100 things, if one thing falters, entire shoot stops. The artist only have to come and shoot at the call time. The boss is always the soft target, but he has to get the work done. If someone is working properly why will the boss shout? We want to work peacefully, we are giving you a professional fees, but if you leave the show and the shoot mid-way, create a misunderstanding then there is no sense. These are too petty issues to talk.”

Well, this is a developing story, and now that the other side is coming out too, we all will have to wait and watch to see how things progress on this front. But we hope justice is served to whoever is correct.

Also Read: Jennifer Mistry bashes TMKOC co-star Mandar Chandwadkar for defending Asit Kumarr Modi amid sexual harassment allegations